• Clubs may request boxes of past issues of KOI USA, not for resale, free except for paying for shipping.
• AKCA Project KHV needs your club’s support in raising donations. Please help!
• Are you a KHA graduate who would like to help lead the KHA program? If so, please contact Julie Miller or Don and Brenda Chandler.
• Congratulations to Central California Koi Society & MAKC for winning the $250 Speakers Grant Lottery.
• There will be no Board meeting in October due to scheduled vacations.

The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Carole Elliott at 5:23 p.m.

MINUTES: Motion: To approve the minutes of August 11th. Motion by Don, 2nd by Jeff. Approved.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

FINANCIALS: We went over the August B of A checking account Profit & Loss statement. We had a total net income of $8.85 . We also moved out of one of our two storage units to save $170 a month. As soon as we did, they raised out rate on the remaining unit by $22. Go figure.

WEBSITE: The 2013-2014 Koi of the Year has ended. We will be putting up the 2014-2015 Koi of the Year and encourage all to go to the AKCA website and vote for your favorite koi.

KHA: We have a new KHA student, James Mola, of Johns Creek, Georgia. Julie is on vacation in Japan with Sara Garrison taking up the slack until she gets back.

PROJECT KHV: We paid three invoices to OSU: $1726, $779 and $2066 for a total of $4572. We moved $4500 from the CD account to pay for these. Jerry says: We would like to see other clubs in our AKCA network of supportive clubs have raffles or find other fund raising opportunities to donate to the AKCA KHV committee specifically to be used in KHV research. Any money raised will be used to no other purpose and will garner recognition and appreciation for your club. Let me know what you can do at jeroldkyle@yahoo.com. Good things happen by working together! Both the North East Iowa Koi Association and the So Cal Koi Club have donated $1,000 each towards AKCA Project KHV. We are currently working on ways to raise money for the KHV Project since we don’t have enough to pay for the current grant. Dinh Nguyen will coordinate social media outreach; Claude & Dianne Head will coordinate club outreach; and Mike Przewoznik will coordinate vendor outreach. Carole suggested going to GoFundMe! We also discussed clubs setting up donation jars at meetings, shows and other events and putting an article in the next issue of KOIUSA with a page for donations. This will be a 6 month campaign.
WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!!

PUBLICATION: The latest magazine has shipped; Bob is checking into getting Koi Person of the Year certificates. Don is working on the next issue that should be out early (we hope).

MEMBERSHIP: We currently have 76 clubs. Carole has yet to contact Miami Valley club to see if they want to rejoin.

JUDGING: Larry Gill and Pam Spindola are judging the Fresno show. Henry Nakamaru and Andy Moo will be judging the Bakersfield show.

RISK MANAGEMENT: We enrolled 2 more clubs: Dallas and Texas K&FGFS. We now have 21 clubs enrolled.

BOOKSTORE: We had a great month with $1271 in sales in spite of no shows. We had an order from France for $450.

SPEAKER’S GRANT: We had four requests for the Speaker’s Grant. After a drawing the following two clubs were the winners: MAKC and Central California for $250 that covers lodging and travel. Those clubs must use this grant by August 31, 2017. Congratulations!

KOI PERSON OF THE YEAR: We are working on getting more certificates printed for next year’s Koi Person of the Year.

KOI OF THE YEAR: Garry Chin emailed the results of the 2013-2014 Koi of the Year Photo Contest. Winner of the Grand Champion Trophy was #11, a Beni Kikokuryu owned by Carole Elliott of the SoCal Koi Club. Out of the 85 votes, her koi received 42 votes. Winner of the Reserve Champion Trophy was koi #10 owned by Rick & Pam Jokerst of the St. Louis Water Gardening Society. Congratulations to both winners! Voting will now start for the 2014-2015 Koi of the Year. Go to the www.AKCA.org website and vote. Your vote matters!

MEMBERSHIP QUESTIONS:
None.

SEMINAR REPORTS:

2017 Seminar: The Mid-Atlantic Koi Club will be hosting with JoAnn Mead the point person. We are currently working with the Hampton Inn, in Pennsville, New Jersey (about 10 minutes away from Quality Koi) on the meeting room as well as room rates for attendees. On Sunday, after the Wet Lab, we will be going to Beni Hanna Nishikigoi for a guided tour.

2018 Seminar: The Koi Club of San Diego will be hosting the 2018 Business Meeting, Banquet and Wet Lab. On Sunday, after the Wet Lab, attendees can tour the Japanese Friendship Gardens. Their club maintains the pond.

PROXY CALLS FOR OCTOBER/NOVEMBER
• Please send any pictures of club members, or others, reading KOI USA magazine.
• If your club has recently held a pond tour or koi show, has it been submitted for an article in KOI USA magazine?

UPCOMING AKCA ANNUAL CALENDAR EVENTS FOR OCTOBER/NOVEMBER
• None

OLD BUSINESS:
• None

NEW BUSINESS:
• None

Motion to adjourn at 6:03 p.m. Motion by Don, 2nd by Jeff. Approved.

Respectfully submitted by,
Don Chandler, Secretary

REPRESENTATIVE CONTACTS:

Written report submitted by Carole Elliott: Jackie Allsup, of Eastern Iowa PS, said their last meeting was at Kloubec Koi Farm. They are undergoing a huge remodel which was great to look at. Looking forward to getting back there soon when all the tanks are full. Eric Twigg was a special guest speaker. Various topics were discussed. It was a beautiful morning visit and they thanked the Kloubec’s for their hospitality. Jackie Allsup, of Northern Iowa P&KC, said they met at the home of Donovan and Linda Burke. Donovan laid out for them a huge Shrimp Boil Dinner. What a wonderful treat for everyone! They talked about the past pond tour, the upcoming home show, and next year’s tour. The morning started out a tad rainy, but cleared up enough for them to enjoy their beautiful Japanese style gardens and koi ponds. So Cal Koi Club held their September meeting at the home of Fatima Hussain in Palos Verdes. Carole Elliott talked about various koi terminology and showed pictures representing those terms. Club members thoroughly enjoyed the lecture. Mel Barutha, of South Carolina K&WGS, said Ralph Smith, of Southwest K&PA, thanked Kevin and Sandra Piper for hosting their last meeting, their guest speakers were Cindy Crews, Mosquito ecology from UTEP and Minerva Cutter, Epidemiology from the City of El Paso, both experts on the Zika virus. They were very fortunate to have them join them. SKAPA’s next meeting will be at the home of Larry & Jeanette Lockard. Jan Jordan, of Mid-Columbia K&PC, said they had their September this afternoon. They nominated officers…and everyone currently on the board was willing to do it for another term and no one was interested in running against them. Also, the club agreed to an October dinner meeting to vote in officers. She will call for reservations for the October meeting and VP, Phyliss, is going to set up the Christmas meeting at a similar restaurant that is in the process of building a whole new place, where they can overlook the Columbia River. November they do not meet. After the Christmas party they will not meet again until April. Winter break! Jan Brown, of North Florida KC, said they are planning a pond tour for Sept. 17th & 18th. So far they have 7 ponds lined up. Stephen Dumas, of North Texas WGS, said there is still no new pond news. Mary Ann Penix, of Piedmont K&WGS, said that last month they had a speaker at their monthly meeting. Mike Brawley discussed bonsai and their care. It was very informative. Their September meeting will be held next week and they will have their annual business meeting. A committee will be appointed to present a slate of officers for their new year. Ken Houtman, of Great Ponds & KS of West Michigan, said they had to cancel the last meeting due to tornado warnings that day. It was the first time that he knows of. No one got blown away so their next meeting will be a good one. There will be an auction at the meeting this month. Items donated do not have to be fish or pond related and all proceeds go to the club to help build the clubs funds. They will have their annual koi photo contest at their October meeting. Christine Wilkolaski, of Niagara Frontier K&PC, said that this month they will have Kevin from Pond Nets of Orchard Park speak. The club is getting ready for the fall festival at Reinstein Woods. The club will have a booth with information along with a sand fish craft for the children to make. They also hand out fish shaped crackers and candy to keep with their theme. Yeow Chye Ng “Warren”, of Central Alabama K&WGS, said that one of their oldest members and the treasurer of their club, Butch Thomas, passed away on Wednesday, August 17th. At this point, they haven’t appointed any new treasurer yet. David Muraoka, of Sierra KC, said that nothing is going on. Ken Lau, of Indiana K&WGC, said their Sept. 17th meeting will be held at Dale Dillman’s home. He is building a bog filter and his description of the build will be discussed. Carole tried but was unable to reach: Southern Arizona KA; ZNA Potomac; Gulf Coast KS; Northern Nevada PC; Olympic KGF&WGC; Amarillo KS; Atlanta KC; Canada KC of British Columbia; Hawaii GF&C; Miami Valley WGS; Puget Sound KC; South Carolina K&WGS; WGC of South Texas; Oregon K&WGS, and Northwest K&GFC-ZNA Northwest.

Written report submitted by Don Chandler: Mike Przewoznik, of Bakersfield Koi & WGS, reports the club held their meeting at Remax again. Malise announced that the club has plenty of Koi rescue fish for the upcoming show. There was much discussion on the show which is right around the corner. Ron announced there are 3 corporate sponsors for the show this year. The club watched 3 videos on Koi determination and after the video the club discussed having more discussion on determining the various Koi varieties. The club also made a recommendation for members to drive up for the day to the CCKS Koi show in Fresno in a few weeks. Ron/Malise will be showing Koi and Sumner Avenue Water Gardens will have a booth there. There was also an open discussion on a member that lost almost all of their Koi due to a new water hose being used to refill the pond after cleaning. The club ended with a raffle of Koi related products. Check out the club’s web site at http://www.bkwgs.com/. Rosimeri Tran, of Central California Koi Society, reports the September 13th club meeting was held at the home of Seng & Rosimeri Tran; members enjoyed viewing their main pond and side pond with the various selections of koi that they have acquired over the years. Seng & Rosimeri discussed how they came into the hobby back in 2008 and their first pond build was in 2008 and recently remodeled in 2014 due to a tree root problem that was clogging their bottom drain. Rosimeri went over the final details of the upcoming September 24th-25th koi show, discussing Friday morning set up on September 23rd at 7 a.m. banquet details as well as the koi auction happening on Saturday and Sunday. In following up with his article in the September CCKS newsletter, Seng did a demonstration and explanation as to the benefits of adding a pH pill to the pond, so after the meeting members went outside and watched Seng combine the plaster of Paris with water and measured them into cups and he had some already made and showed them how to remove the pH pills from the cups and where to add them in the pond, great hands on demonstration. During the meeting we had a round table discussion on various items such as koi food size, and which one is better for when you have different sized koi in the pond. There was a discussion on why to test the pond water, even if you have well water vs. city water. We discussed the different ways to deal with algae blooms in the pond. Also members discussed the constant problem they have with fish spawning frequently in their ponds and were given advice on how to deal with it. Great information shared by our veteran members to the new members who recently joined, and at this meeting we welcomed Jim Sherrick, our newest club member, who is in the process of finishing up his pond build and we look forward to the completion of his project. Follow us on Facebook and check out the club’s web site at http://www.cencalkoi.com. James McAdams, of Deep South Koi & Pond Society, reports they did not hold their August meeting. It would have been held too close to the aftermath of the flooding in the area. Some members were either directly affected or had family members who flooded. Meetings will resume in September. Check out their website at http://www.deepsouthkoi.org. Mac McClain, from Inland Koi Society, reports the Sun Sep 25th meeting will be held at Steve and Laura Nyirady’s home in Yucaipa, with Eric Triplett introducing the Helix pond skimmer. George & Juli Ramirez of Claremont will host October 23, and Spike Cover will be asked to address winterizing the pond. Will be checking to see if the Malls in Temecula will host Thanksgiving again on November 20. We will be dark in December. On August 21, Kushners and Fales even carried their own water to Jungle Exotics in Devore to empty a 100,000-gallon reservoir pond of about 200 koi. Air tankers had used all but the last 15″ of water to fight the wildfires. Mostly small, but a second tank will definitely be needed in anticipation of a Koi Auction in June. Ed will bring small koi for the Raffle table in future months. Both Ultra Balance and Nijikawa USA are supplying food for the rescue efforts. And KOI USA will do a feature article on the rescue. Job Well Done! Ed Kushner and Tom Wright served as the Scholarship Committee this year and were pleased to report that they had selected Carrie Fales to receive the 2016 scholarship. The $500 award will help with the cost of textbooks as she continues her third year of studies in Animal Science at UC Davis. Keep up the good work! Check out their website at http://www.inlandkoisociety.org. Scotty Yee, of Koi Club of San Diego, reports the Sep 11th Pot Luck meeting will be at the home of Charlie and Jennifer Hein in La Jolla. Social Hour at 12:30; Meeting starts at 1:30. Guest speaker will be Eric Triplett, AKA “The Pond Digger.” The Oct 9th Pot Luck meeting will be at the home of Susi Woods in San Diego. Featured will be an Oase Living Water Pondo Vac demonstration. Winner of the 30th Annual Koi Show Pin Contest was Jamie Kanes. Nice work, Jamie! Check out their website at https://www.koiclubofsandiego.org. John Rae, of Michigan Koi & Pond Club SE, reports the 2016 Pond Tour was a success with over 450 guests touring the 10 ponds. There was something for everyone: little ponds, larger ponds, natural ponds, and two ponds that used water from the home sump pump to create a flow-through system where no filtration was needed. Then there were beautiful perennial gardens for those that had sun as well as a pond. The hydrangeas were in full bloom as well as clematis, monarda, lilies, begonias, and petunias. Some ponds featured shade gardens with hostas, ferns, coleus, and caladium. But what most came to see, since it was a koi pond tour, were the koi. Kohaku, Sanke, Showa, Matsuba, Yamabuki Ogon, Kujaku, Ochiba and Chagoi were some of the varieties featured. Many of the guests were interested in the design of the ponds and the filtering system since they either had a pond or were considering building one. The most important volunteers to thank are the 10 homeowners who graciously opened up their yards for touring. Then there were the club members, led by Bruce Modetz, who served as tour guides or affectionately called Koi Cops. The Village Workshop in Northville was an excellent venue as home base and we thank them. Some have asked what do we do with the profit made from the Pond Tour. The money is spent on educational events when the Michigan Koi and Pond Club brings in guest speakers. In addition, the money helps fund the August event: the 2016 Koi Show. Check out their website at http://www.mkpc-se.com/. Elaine Barton, of Mountain View Koi Club, reports news from their meeting on August 14th held at the home, koi pond and Bonsai garden of Daniel and Rina of Hudson. The “practice run” pond tour for members only was set for September 10th, rain or shine. Everyone was brought up to date on our club’s exhibition at the Montreal Botanical Gardens on July 23rd. This event proved very successful with over 1,000 people passing by our show tanks and 400 votes cast for favorite koi. Verne’s platinum Ogon won ‘best koi’ by club members, and Daniel’s Doitsu Kujaku was voted best koi by the public. The AKCA is fundraising for research on KHV virus and our club will be donating raffle proceeds, and Lucie and Jean-Paul will donate all money received through the sale of their water lilies at the MVKC September meeting at their home. Daniel Shelton gave a short presentation on Bonsai using examples from his own collection. The raffle was held, food and refreshments were served and the meeting was adjourned to September 10th. Check their website at http://www.mountainviewkoiclub.com. Dick Thomas, of Northern Midwest ZNA Koi Club, reports their 15th Annual Koi Show & Pond Expo was held Sep 17th & 18th at the Carmel Civic Square in Carmel, IN. They hope to have results posted on the website soon so be sure to keep an eye open. Check out their website at http://www.nmzna.net/index.html. Eve Bretzke, of Santa Clara Valley K&WGC, reports the club hosted its 25th Annual Pond Tour on Saturday, July 16, 2016 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m showcasing six beautiful ponds in the Santa Clara Valley. We had a great event with over 200 attendees. Thank you to everyone for their support of this annual event. Our club announced our Koi Person(s) of the Year, Mel and Eve Bretzke, in appreciation for all their work this past year including serving as the Pond Tour Chairman and Pond Tour Coordinator. Check out their website at http://www.sckoi.com. Judy Nicholson, of Santa Clarita Koi & WG Club, reports the meeting was held at the home of a member who is in the planning stages of the construction of his pond. The site has been chosen and there was an extensive discussion of possible types of pond plumbing, electrical connections and filtration. A sign-up sheet for 2017 club meeting hosts was circulated. Nominations for club treasurer for 2017 and 2018 were solicited. There were no nominations from the floor. The current treasurer graciously agreed to serve for the next term. The Club annual Christmas dinner on December 4 was discussed and those present approved of returning to the Olive Terrace Bistro. This is the last meeting for Co-President Doug Sudbury and Co-Secretary Mary Lou Sudbury. They are relocating and will no longer attend meetings. Members wished them well. Co-President Al Nicholson and Co-Secretary Judy Nicholson will serve out the remaining term through November 2017. Check out their website at http://www.scvkoiandwatergardenclub.com/SCV_Koi/Welcome.html. Rick Jokerst, of St. Louis Water Gardening Society, reports the club’s Annual Tiki Tour will light up the night on Saturday, Sep 24. This is a progressive tour. The Annual Awards Banquet featured guest speakers Devin & Mikki Swanson from Koi Acres. Winners of the Bonnie Alford Service Award were Deb & Kurt Bokamper and the Don & Lizanne Ganim Service Award went to Jim Bear. Check out their website at http://www.saintlouiswatergardeningsociety.org. Joann Socash, of Texas Koi & Fancy Goldfish Society, reports the club had a special tour of the Tank Hollow Fisheries site in Poteet, TX in July. It turned out to be a beautiful day for the tour. Of course, our interest was in the longfin koi they raise and the tour was great! Learning about everything that goes into breeding, culling, and raising koi put much into perspective for better appreciating the hard work that goes into the koi we get to acquire at shows, events, and stores. Check out their website at http://texaskoi.org. Dick Hadley, of Upper Midwest Koi Club, reports the club held its last membership meeting last Saturday Sept 6 at the home and ponds of Joe and Lynda Retterath. We admired Joe’s fish and had our annual pot luck. Karl Schoeler, Koiphen Koi Health Care Committee Chairman, talked about koi health and best practices. We hold our fall koi auction on Sept. 17. Check their website at www.uppermidwestkoiclub.org.

Written report submitted by Brenda Chandler: Dan Chevalier, of Land of Lincoln WG&KS, reports in Aug the club toured Davidsan Japanese Maple Farms in New Berlin, IL. In Sep the club meeting will feature a discussion on winterizing your pond; meeting will be held at the church in Springfield. The Oct Annual Meeting Banquet’s date, time and location are yet to be determined. Check out their website at http://www.llwgs.org. Brenda Chandler, of Nishiki Koi Club, reports the club is not currently meeting. Check out their website at http://www.nishikikoiclub.com. Claude Head, of North East Iowa Koi Association, reports we are reflecting on 2016 as our year draws to a close. Our club certainly has enjoyed one of our most productive years. We formed NEIKA with ‘education’ being the first and foremost objective. Hosting the Wet Lab in June was so rewarding. It exposed Iowa and all attendees to a portion of koi knowledge that we could never experience if it weren’t for Dr. Nick St. Erne and AKCA. On the local side, last month our meeting was at the home of Ron and Julie Miller(KHA director). Our small club is very fortunate to have two KHA’s and to top that, they are both planning trips to Japan this year: Julie in September and Brendan in October. This certainly gives us high hopes on enjoying some great programs and pictures in 2017. Once again Happy Fall Y’all as we close our outdoor ponds and prepare for cold days here in the Heartland! Check out their website at http://www.neikakoiassoc.com/index.html. Lynn Eaton, of Pioneer Valley Water Garden & Koi Club, reports the Sun Sep 11th meeting at her and her husband’s home in Springfield featured a plant exchange; guest speaker was Al Scarpa, VP of Cactus and Succulent Society of MA. The Oct meeting will be on the 9th at the Tree House Brewing Company in Monson, MA; speaker will be Roc Goudreau; topic TBD. Check out their website at http://www.pioneervalleypondclub.com/. Vincent Smith, of Prairieland Koi & Pond Society, reports the next meeting will be held September 10, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. at Illinois Central College in East Peoria, IL by their pond. Their 7th Annual Luau at the home of Loren and Margaret Swanson was a huge success. It’s that time of year again. At our September meeting we will take nominations for any of the elected positions of our club. At the October meeting we will have the election of officers. So if you want to run or know of someone who wants to run for a position, let me know. I must announce that Allen Kruger has resigned as Vice President. He will continue as our Web Master. Check out their website at http://prairieland_pond.tripod.com/. Barb Flowers, of Rocky Mountain Koi Club, reports the club will be holding election of officers on Saturday, the 17th at our regular membership meeting. The topic of discussion will be getting your pond ready for winter. Check out their website at http://www.rmkc.net. David Yee, of Valley of the Sun Koi Club, Inc., reports the club doesn’t meet during the extreme summer heat in the Arizona desert. Check their website at http://www.vskc.net. Mary Oxman, of Ventura County Koi Society, reports meetings at Gary & Denice Stouffer’s home never fail to draw a good sized crowd and the August meeting was no exception. It is always a pleasure to gather for “A meeting under the oaks”. The beautiful natural looking pavers recently installed to replace the gravel covered patio and paths has greatly enhanced the entire backyard. Evelyn Jimenez gave her heartfelt thanks to Bruce Hunter for all his help with her pond since the passing of her husband, Phillip, and her own lengthy illness. Possible solutions for the ongoing pond leakage problems were discussed and suggestions were made by members during the meeting. The support and concern shown to Evelyn was a most touching example of what a special group of people we have. The Sep meeting will be held on Saturday, September 17th, 2016 at the home of Richard and Gloria Victor in Ventura. Check their website at http://users.vcnet.com/rrenshaw/vcks.html.